The first of R. K. Narayan's three volumes of short stories, An Astrologer's Day and Other Stories (1947), contains thirty pieces, all of which had previously appeared in the Madras Hindu. Thus they had been written for, and presumably read and enjoyed by, the readership of one of India's greatest English-language newspapers. Though this readership would include most of the British, Anglo-Indians, and Americans living in South India, it would be made up overwhelmingly of true Indians. It is an important point. Narayan is an Indian writing for Indians who happen to read English. He is not interpreting India for Westerners….

Paradoxically, however, though Narayan's short pieces have been welcomed in the Hindu for thirty years, his novels have never been popular in India…. (p. 41)

Any reader of Narayan is aware that his stories are cut from very much the same cloth, both in quality and in pattern, as...